Excuse me if I haven't heard the latest bickering over
the meaning of the giant crowd at the MLS/WUSA doubleheader in Washington. My
ears are still ringing from being in that stadium for five hours on Saturday.

If you were looking for snide chants from sexist fans or
terrified young girls running in horror at the sight of the bad haircuts that
dominate MLS, you would've been disappointed. The crowd was a fun mix of D.C.
United die-hards, young boys with Washington Freedom apparel, young girls with
United gear and even a couple of women with Liverpool scarves. (Nice week for
them so far, isn't it?)

And the action didn't disappoint. WUSA teams have figured
out their offenses, and Saturday's game was many times better than the heavily
hyped inaugural game a few weeks before. Mia Hamm ran the suddenly fluid Freedom
offense, Siri Mullinix and Tracy Ducar dueled with brilliant saves, and Maren
Meinert added a world-class blast from well outside the box to open Boston's
scoring.

"I just close my eyes and shoot," said Meinert,
a German who has already mastered the art of the American sound bite.

By the second half, with United's drum-toting fans in full
swing, the stands at RFK were bouncing as they have for big games in the past.

Mullinix, a veteran of NCAA finals and U.S. national team
games, sounded dazed as she described the experience: "A lot more music,
drums, a lot more distractions  you've got to stay focused."

One perennial lament of the soccer purist has been that
games in this country lack the atmosphere found overseas. No Brazilian samba
beat, no clever English chants.

Well, on Saturday, this country conjured an atmosphere.
And if you weren't paying attention, you missed a heck of a party.

On to the predictions ...

COLUMBUS (1-2-2) at NEW ENGLAND (1-6-0), Wed.

The league's two worst offensive teams also have the league's
worst records. New England has the momentum after rebounding from a horrible
5-0 loss to shock Chicago. Columbus has a lot of injury problems.

REVOLUTION, 1-0

COLORADO (2-3-1) at METROSTARS (5-1-1), Wed.

Does anyone expect me to pick against Clint Mathis at this
point?

METROS, 3-1

METROSTARS (5-1-1) at SAN JOSE (3-2-1)

Watch Mathis. Watch Landon Donovan. Feel good about the
future of the U.S. national team.

METROS, 2-1

D.C. UNITED (3-3-0) at COLUMBUS (1-2-2)

Imagine United's record if the team hadn't found every
which way to drop two of its last three games.

UNITED, 3-1

TAMPA BAY (2-4-1) at MIAMI (4-1-1)

New England wasn't the only team to lose 5-0 last week.
The Fusion fell apart in an exhibition against England's Fulham played on a
baseball field that looked absolutely awful and must have been impossible to
play on. The Miami front office should be embarrassed. Unfortunately, they have
a good team.

FUSION, 2-1

KANSAS CITY (3-3-1) at CHICAGO (3-2-1)

The rematch of MLS Cup 2000 pits two teams still waiting
to put things together this year. The Wizards defense has missed Peter Vermes,
and he's likely to return for this one.

WIZARDS, 2-1

NEW ENGLAND (1-6-0) at COLORADO (2-3-1)

Three in a row for the Revs? Let's not get carried away.

RAPIDS, 2-0

DALLAS (3-3-0) at LOS ANGELES (3-3-1)

UCLA's drama department has never seen a performance better
than that tumble Cobi Jones took in the box to set up a crucial penalty kick
for the Galaxy last week. He acted better on that play than he did in Disney's
The Jersey. If you're a believer in karma (I'm not, but I need an excuse
for this pick), the Galaxy should get their due in this one. Besides, Dallas
seems to have made the necessary adjustments.

BURN, 4-2

Last week's picks: Take away Cobi's dive and the
Revs' inexplicable win over Chicago, and I had a perfect week. The actual record:
5-1-1. Season record: 21-12-5. (2112, by the way, is a classic
album by Rush.)

WUSA WEEK

One thing worth noting before we take this league for granted:
This isn't the only country that can draw a five-figure crowd for a women's
game. The BBC reported that a "record crowd of 13,824" watched Arsenal
defeat Fulham 1-0 in an FA Cup final that included a disallowed goal, a clearance
off the line and a saved penalty kick. It was Arsenal's fifth FA Cup in nine
years.

The women's pages at Arsenal's Web site (see link above) are an interesting
browse. Funny how the whole team complains about "media coverage,"
which is indeed a bit patronizing across the pond.

Two scheduling quirks: The league's most intriguing teams, Atlanta (one goal
allowed, that on a throw-in) and Philadelphia (the surprise leaders),
are idle this week. Also, the New York-San Diego game, listed most places as
a Saturday game, actually will take place Sunday.

I'm on a roll on WUSA picks the last two weeks, which surprises me as much
as anyone. This week: San Diego 2, New York 1.

FANTASY NOTES

It was a big week for garbage goals and unlikely scorers. If you expected Abdul
Thompson Conteh to score four or Eric Denton to look like Clint Mathis
for five seconds, you're very, very lucky. Same goes for you Petter Villegas
owners. Now stop e-mailing me to rub it in.

The successful lineup in Dallas: Bobby Rhine up front with Ariel
Graziani, Jason Kreis pushed back in midfield alongside Oscar
Pareja, and Paul Broome and Jorge Rodriguez also playing key
midfield roles. Rhine's value as a backup fantasy forward should go up.

The Revolution played with newcomer Braeden Cloutier on one flank and
Ted Chronopoulos on the other. I'll buy that one when they beat Chicago.
Oops ... they did.

Injury notes: Adolfo Valencia has had surgery and will be out 3-5 weeks.
Carlos Bocanegra is out 6-8 weeks.

After missing five of their first seven attempts, MLS penalty-kick takers have
figured things out. They hit all seven last week. This is important in Yahoo,
where PK misses will cost you five points.

Beau Dure's column appears Wednesdays during MLS season. He can be reached
at bkdure@usatoday.com